Page 36 of Returning to Everton

“So what do you think? Will it do?” I chuckle at her big eyes and rapidly nodding head.

“It’s perfect! Thank you so much. Definitely my dream playhouse,” she giggles.

“Good. I’m glad I was able to help. Now, remember you still have to keep it clean in here. You have to take care of your things, even if they’re conjured by magic,” I advise her.

“I will Nate. I promise,” she vows. Then she closes her eyes and makes the same stuffed animals reappear. “Just wanted to make sure I could get them back before I sent everything away,” she giggles. Then she starts cleaning her playhouse. When she’s done, it looks really good. She took the time to decorate a little too.

“How’d you do that Violet?” I ask her about the decorations.

“I just told the house what I wanted it to look like. I like the pink walls, don’t you?”

I smirk. “It looks like a princess room,” I tell her.

“Good! That’s what I was going for!” she giggles again. “What about my real toys? Can I just think about wanting them too and they’ll be there?” she asks.

“Kinda. It’s a little different when you do it like that. Right now it’s the house that is doing the magic. You’re just telling it what you want and it makes it for you. If you want to bring one of your real toys to you, you’ll be using your magic, not the house’s,” I try to explain.

“Can you teach me how to do that Nate? Pleeease,” she pleads.

I sigh. “Oh, okay. Let’s see if I can teach you. I’m not a very good teacher, you want Declan for that, but I’ll try,” I tell her. “Okay so it’s the same process, you have to think of what you want to make it happen. But you’re not asking the house for it. You’re using your magic like when you make things move. Okay?” I check to make sure she understands so far.

When she nods, I continue. “So, close your eyes and take a deep breath.” I watch her as she does as I instruct. “Okay now think about the toy you want. What does it look like? What does it feel like? Imagine it in your hands. Put your hands in front of you. Open them so it has somewhere to go when you call for it. Good Violet. Now tell your magic you want that toy in your hands.”

I’m standing there watching her intently as she concentrates on her powers. I see pink sparks along her palms. All of a sudden those sparks grow until I can’t see her hands anymore. After a minute, the magic dissipates and I can see her doll back in her hands.

“I DID IT! I DID IT!” She jumps up and down holding her doll to her chest and screeching in her excitement.

“You sure did Princess!” I hoot right along with her. The nickname just falls out of my mouth. It makes her smile though so I guess she likes it. I wrap my arms around her and spin her. “I’m so proud of you!” I exclaim, then set her down.

“You wanna keep practicing Princess? We can work on your teleporting,” I suggest.

“Really? You wanna practice magic with me?” She sounds so unsure when she asks that, it about kills me.

“Of course I do Princess,” I tell her adamantly. “Do you want me to? I’m sure your mom would practice with you if you asked,” I assure her, offering her a way out in case she would rather learn this from her mom.

“No, I wanna practice with you. I wanna show Mommy what I can do when she comes out to see my new playhouse,” she tells me.

“Alright then, let’s get started. We’ll stick with that doll since we know you can move her,” I wink at her, and she giggles. “Try to teleport it to my hands, and we’ll just go back and forth for a while before you start practicing moving her to other places in the house. Okay?” I suggest. She agrees and we get to practicing.

A while later, she’s mastered teleporting her doll. She’s even teleported her to her room and back. Though we couldn’t tell if that’s where she really went or not, but with how good she’s doing I’m sure she got it right. We decide to take a break from practicing magic and she turns to look at me.

“Hey, Nate?” she calls my name, so I look back at her and cock my eyebrow in question. She looks at me and bites her bottom lip, a nervous habit Rowen used to have too. “Do you like my mommy?” she asks me.

Oh, we’re going there already huh? Okay, I can do this. “I like your mommy very much, Violet. She used to be my best friend before she married your daddy and moved away,” I inform her.

“But do you like her as more than a friend?” she asks and I about swallow my tongue.

I clear my throat. It appears I’m being interrogated by a five-year-old. Okay Nate, you can do this, just evade the question. “Why do you ask Princess?”

“I think you should go out with my mommy. She’s lonely since my daddy died. And I like you, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing if you were around more often,” she discloses.

“Well, I’m glad you like me Princess, but it’s going to be up to your mom if I go out with her, okay? And just because you like me doesn’t mean I have to date your mom. We can still be friends even if I’m not dating her, okay Princess?” I reassure her.

“Really?” she asks and I nod my head reassuringly at her. “But don’t you want to date my Mommy, Nate?” she continues to question.

Guess I’m not going to be able to avoid this forever. “Violet, I would love nothing more than to go out with your mother. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s not that easy,” I admit.

She sighs. “Okay. If you say so. But I still think you should go out with my Mommy,” she sulks.

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